Posts by Dave

Those of you who are using iListen can now use it with Nisus Writer Express. The fine folks at MacSpeech have released a ScriptPak for Nisus Writer Express. This ScriptPak installs over 300 commands into iListen that will allow the user to do just about anything by voice that you would do with menu or keyboard commands.

Pretty cool, huh?

The ScriptPak for Express sells for $19.00. iListen 1.6.8 sells for $99.00.

Now if they would only release a ScriptPak that would dress and feed me.

Yeah, I am that lazy.

While I am taking a break from watching Curling at Torino, I figured it would be a good time to mention that Express 2.6.1 is now available. There are a few bug fixes the biggest news is that Express is now a Universal Binary. Our preliminary tests show that Express is very, very fast on the new iMac. Yeah, very scientific, I know, but it’s true.

You can download the new version from here.

Now back to Curling. Really.

Express 2.6.1 beta 1 is now out for your downloading and testing pleasure. As of this version, Express is now a Universal Binary, which means that it will run on both Intel and PowerPC based Macs. Apart from that, there are almost no changes.

You can download the latest version from this page.

Also, Nisus Thesaurus has also been updated. The only change is that it is now a Universal Binary. The beta version of Thesuarus can be downloaded on the same page as above.

Happy testing!

We finally received our Intel iMac on Friday. Very nice machine … very quiet, unlike the original iMac G5’s. You would never know you what chip it was running, except that it really does feel faster … Safari and the Finder are more responsive, for example.

So far, we haven’t used it much, except to test Express in Rosetta. It works as you would expect, we haven’t seen any issues so far. We are working on the Universal Binary version now, and should be releasing a beta any day now.

So, does anyone else have an Intel iMac? If so, let me know. I would love to hear about your experiences.

Express 2.6 is out. This is mainly a bug fix release, though there are a few new features such as optional WYSIWYG font menu, smart to straight quote conversion and vice versa, document selection restoration when reopened, and French and German localization.

You can download from here. The release notes can be read on this page.

Next up is a Universal Binary release. I would like to think that is coming soon, but we still don’t have a production Intel iMac to test with as of this writing. Hopefully within the next week we shall have it, and then we can test properly.

Or not.

I am writing this from the Apple Store in downtown San Francisco. I was trying to get a look at a production Intel iMac (the Macs on the show floor are pre-production) but I can barely get in the door. Quite a popular place, this Apple Store. They don’t actually have any Intel iMacs at the moment, which is a shame, but understandable. Apparently, shipping immediately does not actually mean that it is now shipping. Go figure.

Got to meet Rick Schaut today. Very nice man, in spite of his affiliation with Microsoft. He really isn’t the enemy, folks. Got to play with the MacBook Pro today. They wouldn’t let me install Express on the machine, but it was fun anyway. I don’t know if the new machines are actually 4 times faster than the G5, but you can really feel the difference. The universal binary Apple apps are very fast. The biggest surprise to me is Safari, which is lightening fast on these machines. Sites that usually will induce the spinning beach ball now just render the page without a fuss. it is really a noticeable improvement.

The downside of course is that Classic is officially tossed in the trash can. I am sure there will be emulators but if you are still doing things with Classic applications, buy the last of the G5 machines now. And I mean now. Rosetta is very nice software, but your non-native Intel applications will run slower. That is, if MS Word is any indication. Heh.

Google has a booth right behind us. Normally it would bug us to have so much traffic around our booth, but people have to come by our booth to get to them, so at that point we pounce! Actually, the bad thing about them being so popular is that they are sucking the bandwidth from the rest of us. Hey, there are tradeoffs.

One more day, so if you are in the area, please feel free to come by. With or without pants.

It’s day two here at Moscone, and there is still a huge buzz from yesterday. You can’t see the new Intel machines for the people. The lines are usually 4 or 5 deep, just to put your hands on one! If that is any indication, they are going to sell a lot of these new machines.

We are very busy at our booth. Lot’s of feature requests, and a surprising amount of praise. Everyone wants to know when Express will be “Intel Ready”. If you believe Apple, most Cocoa applications are just a checkbox away from a Unviersal Binary. That’s not necessarily the case. For us, the Classic file converter will need some work to make it usable on the new machines, for example. This may take a long time, or it may not take any time at all.

Once we release Express 2.6, we will begin work on the Intel compatible Express. I don’t have a timetable for its release, but I can say that it will be a free upgrade.

And for you brave early Intel Macintosh adopters, we salute you!

Bet you didn’t see that coming. I sure didn’t. No one that I talked to said much, if anything, about new Power/MacBooks. If anything, the thought was iBooks or MacMinis. The iMac just got refreshed not that long ago, so an Intel iMac was a bit of a shock as well.

As for performance, I didn’t get much time on one. It’s a mob scene at the moment, and I would have to commit several acts of violence just to get close. Not that I mind, but it’s probably not a good idea. Yet. But, I can say that they feel much faster in all of the tasks I tried. That’s subjective I realize, but that’s all I have to work with at the moment.

Apart from that, not much new. Updated iLife with iWeb (well, I told you!), updated iWork, though I have to admit I am not sure what those changes are just yet. (Steve Jobs sort of skipped over iWork in the keynote. Thanks, Steve!) We are working the booth, so not much chance to get out and explore.

But I will.

As I walked into Moscone Center today I noticed a couple of things. The Apple Computer area has a big black curtain that prevents anyone from getting even the slightest hint of what’s coming. Security personel were there, just in case someone got a bit too adventurous.

The second thing I noticed was the buzz. I have been to many of these things, and it seems to me that there is an … atmosphere at this one that hasn’t been present in other Macworld Expos. There is a lot of anticipation, and some dread from fellow developers. Mostly anticipation, though.

It looks like this Expos is the one that introduces Mac users to the world of Intel chips in their Mac. I think that is what developers are dreading. Apart from that, rumors are all over the map. In no particular order, I have heard:

• Intel iBooks
• Intel MacMinis
• Intel iMacs
• Intel PowerBooks
• Plasma screen TV’s (I am not making that up).
• Updated iLife (with iWeb!)
• New/Updated iPods
• Updated iWork
• Mobile Phone
• Tivo-like software
• New Airport base stations

It isn’t likely all of this will happen. Still, I would be surprised if we didn’t see new Intel-based machines of some sort. Very suprised. We will see on Tuesday.

As for Nisus, we will be showing Express 2.6, but there will be no major announcements. Hey, we are just happy to be there! Really. We are at booth 107, just in case you are in town. Just don’t blink, or you will miss us.

Wow … Festivus has come and gone so quickly! I have taken down the Festivus pole, and the Airing of Grievances still hangs in the air like a bad odor.

Yup, nothing like that to get your holidays off to a roaring start.

Seriously though, we would like to wish all of you a happy and festive holiday season.

Now let’s be safe out there!

Here is a very interesting review of Express 2.5 by Nguyen on his Interface blog.

Thanks for the great review!

This Thursday (29 September) Jerzy Lewak, CEO of Nisus Software, will be a guest on the Tech Night Owl Live. You can listen to the show, which will be on from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Pacific Time, at the Techbroadcasting web site. Or you can download the show in Podcast form from the same site.

Happy listening!

In our never ending quest to release as many beta versions as possible, I am proud to annouce Nisus Writer Express 2.5 Beta 7.

You can see what has changed on the release notes page.

Thank you all again for sending us bug reports and helping us to make this release a very solid one. Keep them coming!

It looks like Express 2.5 is getting closer. We just released Beta 4 and there are a number of bugs fixed. However, we would love to hear from people who have had problems with Classic File Conversion and Keyboard Shortcuts.

Please download the new beta, try it out, and let us know what you think by filing bug reports.

The latest alpha of Nisus Writer Express 2.5 is out. New in this version is the ability to create custom palette groups.

Download it from the Sneak Peek page.

Enjoy!

Version up, people! Download from the Sneak Peek page. Give it a look. Send us feedback.

We are getting very close to a beta release. Thank you all for your help.

This new alpha bring right to left table support, though there will be some rough edges (hey, it’s an alpha!). There is also a fix for the LinkBack/OmniGraffle bug that some have reported.

Feel free to give this latest build a spin.

For the brave amongst you, we have released the latest Express 2.5 Sneak Peek build. There are no release notes, but lots of bugs are squashed in this version.

You will need Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) at least to use this build.

As per normal, we do not offer support on these builds, so please do not ask. Send your feedback to sneakpeek@nisus.com or use the feedback function built into Express.

Happy Hunting!

The final version of Nisus Writer Express 2.1.3 is now available at the usual place. Or, you can open Express and choose the “Check for Updates” feature in Nisus Writer Express, located under the “Nisus Writer Express” menu.

No new features have been added, as this version fixes a few issues that were disconvered after Tiger was released.

Enjoy!

We have posted a Nisus Writer Express 2.1.3 sneak peek at, appropriately enough, our Sneak Peek page.

Please feel free to check it out and send us feedback.